Support Us

As a registered charity (number 312175), the Library receives no government funding or statutory grants: members' subscriptions together with generous donations and bequests are therefore vital to its survival and development.

You can support the Library in a number of ways. For more information please contact the Development department on 020 7766 4719 or email development@londonlibrary.co.uk

The London Library is my favourite place in the whole of London. A unique resource and a wonderful place in which to read.

John O’Farrell

Founders' Circle

The Founders' Circle is a group dedicated to supporting the running of the Library year by year

Named in honour of the first 500 members who set the Library on its feet in 1841, the Founders' Circle come together at a variety of interesting and exclusive events throughout the year.

There are three levels of annual membership of the Founders' Circle, named after three of the Founders': Harriet Martineau (£1,500) William Makepeace Thackeray (£5,000) and Charles Dickens (£10,000)

International Friends

For many years the support of the Library's International Friends has been vital to its continued good-health.

Administered from New York under a volunteer board of directors, the International Friends of the London Library is a registered 501(c) 3 charitable corporation.

Gifts may be directed towards particular areas of the Library's work, such as preservation, acquisitions or building renovation, and there are a variety of options for the recognition of benefactors within the Library.

The US Founders' Circle is a unique opportunity for residents in the USA to join the Library. Benefits include full membership and invitations to events in New York and London, including author visits and private tours of libraries and literary collections often not open to the public.

Adopt a Book

Each year the Library acquires some 8,000 new volumes, keeping our collections as relevant and up to date as possible.

Via our Adopt a Book schemes, members and supporters can help us expand our collections with new materials and take care of the precious resources we possess already.

If choosing which book to adopt proves too difficult, you can still help to meet the cost of the collection as a whole by making a donation to The Book Fund.

Legacies & In Memoriam

A legacy is a fitting way to acknowledge the scholarship, the literary refuge and the pleasure that the Library has offered to so many readers and writers over the years.

By including us among the beneficiaries mentioned in your Will, you can play a direct and vital part in helping to ensure our long-term survival and success.

In Memoriamdonations: a particularly eloquent and enduring way of commemorating the life of a relation, friend or colleague for whom the London Library was a special place is to consider making a gift in their memory.

An in memoriam gift is a lasting tribute that can play a valuable role in helping to secure our future. The gift may be an individual benefaction or the proceeds from a collection made in someone's memory. You may prefer to request that donations be made to the Library in lieu of funeral flowers, or to make a donation each year to remember someone's birthday.

Endowment Campaign

Endowment funds are invested to provide a useful and growing annual income for the Library while maintaining their long-term capital value in real terms, to reach a suitable balance between present and future needs

We are delighted that London Library Vice President Lewis Golden has led the way with an extremely generous donation of £250,000, permanently establishing the Jacqueline Golden Endowment in memory of his late wife. The income from this endowment will support the Library's activities in perpetuity.

The Library is actively seeking donors who may wish to donate to support our general charitable purposes; to pooled funds within areas of Library activity such as acquisition or conservation; or those who may wish to donate to a fund named after an individual or subject area.

The following three methods of supporting the Library are aimed at published authors.

Public Lending Right Transfer: In the past, some members have generously made over the income they receive from the Public Lending Right scheme to the Library, both during their lifetime and in perpetuity.

Donations of Royalties: Writers may wish to donate all or some of the royalties from a particular work or works to the Library and help to fund the institution's continued evolution. If you have a book which you feel would not have been possible without the support of the Library, a Royalties Donation would be one of the best ways of acknowledging this.

Bequest of Copyright: Writers can bequeath to the Library the rights to one or more of their books. This links the book directly to the Library and ensures that the work continues to provide funds for our work for many years.